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I really just started playing DOW3, and I just noticed this morning that it is no longer in the top 100 games on steam (current players). It has been consistently dropping players each day. By the time I finish the campaign and get comfortable with playing DOW3 in ranked matches, will there be anyone to play ?

right now there were only 2500 players in DOW3
coh2 has over 3500 players (3 year old game)

Why have soooo many people stopped playing in such a short time ? Is it the lack of maps / bugs / lack of depth ? When the may 24th patch comes out, will that bring people back ? Or is the game in its multiplayer death gurgle ? If hardly anyone plays a multiplayer game, it get to hard/long to get a match.

Comments

Simple, meta annoys people especially when you spam a certain unit it's like watching same movie over and over the RNG and armor dmg types in coh2 dow2 provided different outcomes and made the game feel alive even though builds were same, right now if you get stomped there is just no way to comeback as even though you make that safety lasgun or tankbusta that won't save you against sheer numbers. So snowball builds are so common people do not want to experience-create other builds as it will make you lose the game

I've never waited longer than a minute for a game except when I want to try out custom maps and have to wait for people to reload with the maps.

I don't know people have left, I'm sure there are many different reasons but I don't know which are the most common ones. I'll still be here for a while, this game is too fun. Idk CoH2 well, but judging by screenshots and what others have said about it, I'd say it's easier for a lot of people to enjoy a game that is more based in reality, like Call of Duty. Lots of people play Call of Duty or Battlefield and it's partially because it doesn't require becoming part of a fantasy world with fantasy creatures and sci-fi weapons. So if it's not any more fun and you have no connection to the fantasy world, it just becomes another one of those games.

Comparison to other DoW games that had a FAR more advanced and greater sized campaign mode.
No ranked play online

Seriously though, the campaign was a huge let down. "Wait, chaos is behind it again!? No way!" Besides the mediocre story it also was extremely short compared to the other games and extremely linear compared to the other games. If it was the first in the series and released years ago this would've been such a hit but because of how much it lacks not only in comparison to its predecessors but also in comparison to other games in the genre it is so disappointing.

The lack of ranked play makes the players who would be expanding the player base and being excited about the game on social media leave the game. It takes nerds striving to be better than each other with a publicly measurable result to keep the player base in an online game and this one, while it records your stats, doensn't have the competitive draw or selective matchmaking of other games in the genre.

The bugs it had were largely negligible compared to most games at release nowadays but are sometimes disappointing (I want my campaign achievements for beating it on hard!). Really though this thing should've been priced at 40 dollars. I really enjoy it and the new mechanics introduced, especially with the orks, but I cannot recommend it to my friends until it is on a 50% off or more sale the way the game is now.

i totally stopped playing it mainly because:
-still lags a lot online compared to all my other games
- grinding skulls is no fun AT ALL
- no content, only 3 boring factions on 3 boring maps
- all games i played looked the same to me. same unit spams, same elites....

Whenever a new version of a franchise releases, people hold it up to the standard of the previous versions in content, which is often years of patches/expansions/user-generated content. There's probably a rush of excitement, then a rush of frustration, then as patches and new content is generated people will filter back in, is my guess.

well, relic failed to work together with people in order for user generated content to be more than just maps. The game could have more gamemodes already if they would be more open with these things.

The essence engine isnt hard to work with, so there could be so much content coming from people if they would only be allowed to do it.
That was and still is also an issue with coh2.

just look how popular user generated content is in sc2, it keeps people interested in the game and because of that also increases potential viewers for esports events, which is needed to generated the money needed to support it with ads and so on.

Relic games are always long term investments, look at how many improvements CoH2, DoW1 and 2 received, in addition to all of the multiplayer expansions/races added. DoW1 received 3 big expansions. DoW2 2 big expansions + The Last Stand mode. etc.The core gameplay is fun, so once balance has been improved and features added, as we've seen happen in the past, I think we'll see more people playing.

Well... I knew this game will be dead but I didn't imagine it will be so fast, When you have a amazing RTS like DOW1 ( even if I don't like dow2 it has a nice Campaign and last stand) and you said "++heresy redacted++ dow1-2 fans, go for the moba crowd" Then this happen.. DOW 1-2 have millions of fans but no one is buying and playing dow3.. simple because many people don't consider dow3 a Dawn of War game and relic knew that people didn't like the moba mode but they did nothing.. so IMO they got what they deserve... Next time relic make a game for your fans not for the 12 old moba players and for the game director: Go play dow1 and understand what an RTS is...

This game is so much fun to stop playing it. I will admit the patches have been horrendous, each update adding more problems. Fixing problems I haven't even noticed and not fixing the bugs I have noticed like replays and drag click select all units plus random RAM warnings? I think the developers are purposely sabotaging their own game. Regardless of the bugs and problems this game is still so much fun concept wise, while adding new elements to the game play. I'm sure if they keep adding fixes and balancing out units this game will be better than any other RTS out right now.

1) The "casual" gamers, those that buy a game and move on after a bit, have got their fill and will move one for a while now. They have completed single player and have got the most enjoyment they can from multiplayer. These people may come back with the addition of races/content, but every game can expect this sort of trend due to this type of player.
2) The meta, especially in 1v1, is pretty bad right now. I personally love this game a lot, but I less and less often even bothering to queue up for a 1v1 since I know I will literally lose games to abuse of unintended, OP mechanics. Players like this (more competitive) are waiting for the problems of this game to be smoothed out. Hopefully this will be done with the balance patch on the 24th.
3) There is also a legitimate perception of lack of content. Normally this wouldn't be a huge issue, but combined with problem #2, there is little reason to keep playing this game if there is less fun to be had. I believe that once new content/races are added, we will see a permanent increase in the player base.

edit: 4) This game also got a lot of hate from a bunch of salty 40k/DoW1 nerds that personally didn't like the new direction of the game. Through this lens, they claim the whole game is bad and not worth playing. Bad arguments aside, it nonetheless created a bunch of bad perception around the game (unfortunately) so we will probably have to wait for these salty basement dwellers like this G0LL0 guy to go away, and over time people will forget about these complaints (since the complains are mostly BS to begin with).

Be patient. The playerbase will probably go back up in the coming weeks as long as Relic doesn't drop the ball hardcore on addressing the problems.

That comment remind me... it's actually pretty funny how I remember game was advertised and how community was speaking about dumbed down mechanics to please casuals. Even if they fix everything with patches, core of this game will always be a true nightmare for any casual player. There will be non left soon enough, no matter how well or poor DOW III will carry on.

I am enjoying DOW3 a lot and I'm still playing on a daily basis, but I have noticed qeue times are getting longer and longer and the matches are getting more inbalanced in terms of skill every day, what usually means less players to get matched to. This game has obvious flaws and maybe they are the reason some people are leaving. Maybe the patch on the 24th will adress it, maybe not. I will list some of them:

Meta is kind of annoying because of glaring balance issues. You almost always see the same BOs for the factions with the same elites and the same doctrines. It gets kind of repetitive.

No ranked ladder. Most people that play multiplayer do so for the rewarding feeling of climbing the ladder. Wanting to be on the top or get higher in it is what drives most of the RTS community.

Matchmaking. The other day I played against a guy that just started to play multiplayer, followed directly by Cataclaw. What. How is that even possible. Waiting 5+ minutes to get into a game and most of the time being an stomp either way is boring.

Lack of maps. We have 3 for 1v1, 2 for 2v2 and 3 for 3v3. It is not enough, we need more maps. If relic has no resources to expand the map pool, make a contest of community made maps with a nice prize and select the best 2 for each cattegory, tweak them a little and make them available.

Factions. I think I talk for everyone when I say only 3 were dissapointing. If they were somewhat balanced internally and externally I would have no problem. (coughSCcough). It definetly isnt a deal breaker for me, mostly becouse Im a Dark Eldar guy, and there is no way they would be included so I wasnt let down, but I understand some people feeling that way since the last titles had 4 since launch. I really hope expansions/DLCs add 2 factions each like in DOW1.

When basebuilding was announced to be back, a lot of people really heard "DOW1 with better graphics", and when that was not the case the bad press this game had to deal with was insane, just becouse its core gameplay revolves around structures. You would read some reviews and it almost sounded like this game was a League of Legends clone or something, and that made people, specially hardcore RTS enthusiasts, think twice before buying tha game when really the only MOBAish elements are actually antisnowballing mechanisms. Not all RTS titles have to be anhilation based to be good.

But this is just my oppinion. As I said I am still enjoying DOW3 a lot. I hope that the patch fixes some of the most glaring issues, specially matchmaking and stale meta.

Because Dawn of war 2 is better then this game in every way, playing Dawn of war 3 just makes me want to go play Dawn of war 2 again and I think I might. Base building is back but in the lamest way possible there is no depth in building your base, there are very few buildings, units, and maps, only a couple of build orders, only 3 races and only one game mode, Dawn of war 2 does all this better then Dawn of war 3 and the graphics are not much better then in Dawn of war 2. So why would anyone want to come play this game when they could just play Dawn of war 1 or 2 and have a better time, there is nothing really that great or new to draw new players in your basic gamer will never be interested in this game unless some major changes come. Another thing Dawn of war 2 has over 3 is your units and heroes mattered to you because they leveled up and losing one really caused you to care about your units and elites and you could customize your units more, the campaign was also a lot more fun the war gear was pretty sweet idea also not sure why they got rid of it.

The only people who I see enjoy this game are the competitive type who like esports which is a very small demographic, and it will be impossible to steel people away from games like LoL, Dota or StarCraft. I really don't know what relic was thinking when they made this game, I would really like to see a video of this game being made. Relic doesn't really care about there fanbase, they only care about there vision no matter how wrong it is or blind they may be

CoH2 went through this as well. I'm bored of the handfull of launch maps, then new official maps started to come out, and the Workshop soon followed (here its at launch). A ton of the people were actually refusing to play the game because there were no western Allied factions, that changed after one year and its first expansion. Numbers dropped, but started recovering eventually.

Everything that people complained about previously they did right now. Honest and open about the game from day one, a sharp contrast comparing to the pre-release days of CoH2. Almost from day 1 you knew what to expect from it. No cookie-cutter bs, no downgrades as Ubisoft likes to serve for years now. People complained how CoH2 isn't competitive and cried and cried about the RNG aspect of the game. You can't make everyone happy.

Its also funny seeing some people gloating about the numbers dipping. Oh, I'm going back to the real RTS, DoW1 that has 800 players in SS, and DoW3 with 3.5k is a dead game that no one likes. You should just do what I asked, give me a fresh dose of my old experience, which I would leave after a short while, just like I'm not playing those old games anymore... I'm so right, I'm so smart, yadda, yadda. Some people are really ridiculous.

Personally, I'm enjoying the game. I can't see the future, it may grow, it may not. But I have a feeling thsoe doomsayers won't be around to gloat if the game recovers eventually.

1) The campaign is probably one of the worst I have ever played. It's linear, boring, and the ending... I mean god damnit Relic.
2) The game has 8 maps, 2 for 2V2, and these have no active cover or garrisonable buildings like COH2, so there is actually 0 difference when you replay the maps.
and
3) The multiplayer is just weak. Honestly it doesn't offer much in the way of fun besides meta builds, they purposely removed all the things that made their RTS's fun and unique to play like unit vet, active cover, and garrisonable buildings so the replay value just isn't there. Plus every game is just spam META units, so it gets old fast when you play vs 3 space marines and EVERY game you are getting ASM spam and 3 solarisis's with an endless march of whirlwind artilleries.

I actually feel like an idiot for buying this game, I had 2 people tell me not to but I did so anyways because people on the forum kept hyping it up. But the game is really bad IMO.